


In the Night

by eveshka



Series: Tales of the Dawn King [19]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Spoilers, you know the drill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 23:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10887534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveshka/pseuds/eveshka
Summary: In the night, Noctis and Ignis talk.





	In the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Rating: T  
> Warnings: None  
> Characters: Ignis Scientia, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum  
> Time Period: The last night  
> Location: Insomnia

Ignis sat quietly on the lower bunk bed in the back of the underground haven, waiting for the others to settle in. What he didn't expect was Gladio and Prompto to step out in search of provisions, leaving him alone with Noctis.

And then Noctis surprised him by flopping down beside him on the tiny bed with the grace of a lanky teenager. And while he was thirty, he was severely underweight; so the bed didn’t move much under the man. “So...”

“So?” Ignis prompted, pushing down the need to find a kitchen and cook every greasy and disgusting thing Noctis had ever eaten. There was no kitchen, and the knowledge that Ignis couldn’t stave off the inevitable by simply cooking was too much to bear. Underweight or not, when they got to the Citadel, it wouldn’t much matter anymore.

“So…” Noctis always built up to his point. He rarely ever just came out and said it. He had to feel his way around the language and wander the verbal path before arriving at a statement or question that made his own thoughts comprehensible. This was no different. “Prompto's got Aranea, right? And Gladio, he's well, he's Gladio. But what about you, Specs? Who have you got in all this?”

Ah. Ignis hid a smile, crossed his right leg over his left, and then laced his fingers over the right knee. “Why... I've 'got' you, Noct.” Really, the bed was too low to the ground for him to be able to sit any other way. And, Ignis suspected that he was too tall to sleep comfortably, as well. No matter. Sleep likely wasn’t to come anyway.

Noctis bumped his side, an old familiar move of a younger man bemusedly annoyed. “You know what I mean. Prompto said...” and then, Noctis did something else that surprised Ignis. He thought before he continued. “Know what? You're right; it's none of my business.” He sat up then, shifting his weight forwards as if to rise, and Ignis moved a hand to stop him resting long fingers on Noctis’ leg.

“I had someone, yes. For a little while. One of the surviving Kingsglaive,” he paused, took a breath, and then plunged on, struggling to keep some sort of faith that he'd not misread Noctis through the years. “Stasios Teleon. He... was a comfort.”

The only word Noctis offered was an echo of one of Ignis’ own. “Was?”

Ignis exhaled. He wasn't certain if it was relief or pain. Perhaps both. “My heart is yours, first and foremost, Noct. He knew that.” He'd known it and not once had he used it against Ignis. Stasios had deserved better.

And while he was ruminating on that, Noctis surprised Ignis once again. “Tell me about him?”

 

The request knocked the air out of Ignis’ lungs, and he sat for a long moment, counting his heartbeat, trying to regain his breath and sort his thoughts into order. “He… Stasios…” Ignis exhaled, inhaled, and startled when he felt Noctis rest his hand on his leg. Somehow it felt like permission, and Ignis inclined his head towards Noctis. “I think you would have liked him, Noct.”

“He’s gentle, but firm when he’s made up his mind, and damnably good at telling you things without telling anything at all. He obfuscates, often sidestepping a question with an observation regarding the query. And yet, somehow, he was devoted, supporting, and above all else, respectful.” Ignis paused when he felt the bed shaking slightly, the motion driven by the man beside him. “Noct?”

“It sounds like you’re describing _you_ ,” Noctis chuckled. “Please tell me he made you eat things you didn’t like.”

Ignis almost snorted, paused, and then had to give Noctis the point. It did rather sound as if Ignis was describing himself in relation to Noctis. “No, but he did come up with a new recipe.”

Noctis damn near fell off the bed.

 

Later, after having eaten a meager meal of tinned food that while had been deemed passable somehow managed to taste like what it claimed to be, yet also nothing at all like it, Ignis drew Prompto to the side and spoke quietly. Would it be too difficult to write a note that Ignis dictated? Was there paper and a pen available?

There was, and Prompto said he’d be happy to help. So in the night, while Noctis and Gladio slept, Ignis quietly offered the words he should have said to Stasios before he’d left Lestallum. Prompto wrote them faithfully, and neither man spoke of tears.


End file.
